Oksana Karavanska: ‘If a Woman Has a High-Powered Position, She Should Not Dress Like a Man’

When the future world-renown Ukrainian designer Oksana Karavanska was in kindergarten, already her peers turned to her for pictures of princesses. And when she was in 10th grade she found herself in the studio of a teacher from Lviv Academy of Arts. There she suddenly realized that the art students’ work was very similar to her doodles. Soon afterward Oksana enrolled in the fashion design program at the artacademy. During her first year she met the fashion guru Slava Zaytsev. Her first major show after graduation took place in Tallinn, where she shook hands with the celebrity Paco Rabanne. Ultimately, Karavanska became a finalist at Alta-Moda, the chair of the jury which was Pierre Cardin. Her work has been shown in the USA, Canada, Italy, France… The list of the achievements of one of the most prominent Ukrainian designers can go on and on. But it is much better to talk to Oksana Karanavksa tete-a-tete and try to get a glimpse into her world.

- Oksana, you have persistently been called an “ethno-designer” and as far as I know, you have been fighting against this label…

- Yes, I’ve been fighting it all my creative life. I have three versions of the appearance of the label “ethno-designer.” First, because I speak only Ukrainian. The second, nearly 100 percent of my showings are accompanied by music by Ukrainian musicians and composers. And the third,all of my collections are inspired by Ukraine – its past or present. And much less the prefix “ethno”applies to the clothing from OksanaKaravanska, especially the elements of embroidery, etc. After all, if it comes to that, cross-stitch originated not in Ukraine but in France. Somehow, Dolce and Gabbana, who have cross-stitch in almost all of their collections are never called ethno-designers (smiles). Once in protest against the label “ethno-designer” I created a collection dedicated to Ukrainian avant-garde artists, including KazymyrMalevych. It was totally avant-garde, but it was re-dubbed “ethnic”…

Sure, many in the US may live off baseball, basketball, and American football, while Canada has its hockey. India and a lot of the Commonwealth have cricket, while football (soccer) features high on the list of followed sports in many, many parts of the world – including, it is true, in Armenia. But Armenia is also a place where chess occupies its own very special spot.

The history of chess in Armenia goes back over a thousand years: it is thought that it was introduced during Arab rule in the 8th-9th centuries AD, the Arabs having, in turn, brought it over from India. It was not until Soviet times, however, that the game was given a boost to the national level. The 1920s and ’30s saw the first chess clubs and championships take place in Yerevan and elsewhere in the country.

During the 1960s, with the prominence of Tigran Petrosian, chess became a highly popular, followed sport in Soviet Armenia.

Petrosian got to be Soviet chess champion four times, and also won the world title in 1963, besides securing many victories as part of the USSR team. Chess, as it turned out, was rendered an institution unto itself. One could say that the rest is history – but the truth is that the game is very much in the present in Armenia.

Another big name in chess is Garry Kasparov, who gained international renown as the Cold War was coming to an end, and later in playing chess against a computer, and today as a public figure in Russia. Kasparov was born in Baku, in Soviet Azerbaijan, to an Armenian mother, and had to flee his native city due to his background as the Nagorno-Karabakh movement came to a head. He never represented Armenia in the world of chess, however.

Armenia continues to figure very actively on the chess scene, hosting international tournaments, and sending individuals and teams to display the national chess prowess all over the world. It helps that the Chess Federation of Armenia is headed by the current president of the country, receiving much official support, whether in terms of men, women, or underage players. Armenia also made headlines when it decided to introduce chess into the school curriculum in 2011. The rankings of Armenia at the individual and team level have been consistently high – an impressive feat, especially given the small size and population of the country.

One of the most interesting aspects of chess in Armenia is the same degree of a following that it enjoys as one would expect of bigger, more commercialised sports elsewhere. While Tigran Petrosian was a household name a few decades ago, Levon Aronian is a national celebrity in Armenia today, alongside a number of other Grandmasters, many of them young, and other up-and-coming players. A magazine devoted to chess has been in publication since 1972, which was the same year a chess TV show began, on air ever since.

Chess Is Mandatory in Schools

For the last six years, all Armenian kids have been playing Chess as part of the curriculum,[8] and now we wonder why this doesn’t happen everywhere, immediately. Chess as a game builds character, improves cognitive abilities, improvisation, and forward planning. It is also fun, unless you are a nerd who likes football or other so-called “Jock” sports. You don’t kill queens in football, losers.Anyway, the example has been a success story, so much so that Spain has followed suit and as of 2015, similarly required chess to be part of everyday school life. In 2011, it brought in compulsory chess lessons at primary school age. It is the only country to have done so.

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